Did Ted Cruz Have an Affair? So What?

There’s nothing quite as terrifying as seeing #CruzSexScandal trending on Twitter, but whether the allegations behind the hashtag are true or rumors, the simple truth is that a Cruz affair really doesn’t matter.

According to the National Enquirer, religious right favorite and GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz has had ongoing extramarital affairs with a handful of women. Some of those allegedly involved have worked or now work for other presidential candidates, such as former candidate Carly Fiorina and current frontrunner Donald Trump, although both women deny the allegations. Other women are still unidentified and have not responded.

The Texas senator, meanwhile, has denied that any element of the Enquirer exposé is true, and has instead condemned the magazine as running a hit piece in order to help Trump win the nomination.

“Let me be clear, this National Enquirer story is garbage. It is complete and utter lies. It is a tabloid smear, and it is a smear from Donald Trump and his henchmen,” Cruz said, according to CNN.com.

Trump, meanwhile, rejects the idea that he was involved in the story, saying, “I have no idea whether or not the cover story about Ted Cruz in this week’s issue of the National Enquirer is true or not, but I had absolutely nothing to do with it, did not know about it, and have not, as yet, read it.”

The story very well could be made up. It could also be true – or parts of it at least. After all, the National Enquirer was also the magazine that first broke the Sen. John Edwards infidelity story during the 2008 presidential campaign, a story that caused Edwards to drop out of the race soon afterwards. However, Edwards is one of few politicians who was actually impacted enough by a sex scandal to be forced to leave a race (New York Rep. Anthony Weiner being another.)

If history is at all any indicator – especially for Republicans – all he really needs to do is acknowledge, apologize, call himself a sinner, and move on.

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig managed to reverse his decision to immediately resign once it was learned he attempted to solicit sex in an airport bathroom, instead serving out the remainder of his term while trying to “clear his name.”

Louisiana Senator David Vitter managed to not just stay in office but also win reelection even after it came out that he had participated in a prostitution ring. In fact, it hardly even affected his political career until he attempted a run for governor in 2015.

When it came out that Tennessee Rep. Scott Desjarlais not only had an affair with a patient but also tried to talk her into aborting her pregnancy, it did nothing to kill his election prospects, despite running on a “pro-life” platform.

Republicans are in many ways politically immune to sex scandals. South Carolina’s Governor, Mark Sanford, disappeared with a mistress while in the governor’s mansion. Now he’s a Congressman. Newt Gingrich, the head of the Christian right in the ’90s, not only cheated on his wife for a decade, he left her when she had cancer. Yet in 2012 he was considered a highly viable candidate for President, and even had a brief period as frontrunner.

From the days of Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart proclaiming they had sinned, the far right has always had a special get-out-of-jail-free card when it comes to their own hypocrisy regarding sex and fidelity. By virtue of a moral system that demands adamant rigidity to marriage bonds, yet also believes that every person is a weak, corruptible sinner, it’s a perfect set up for any wayward philanderer to simply engage, get caught, ask forgiveness and move on.

Did Ted Cruz have an affair? Who knows. And honestly, it should be between him and his family, regardless. But if it does come out that he has, and everyone learns about it, don’t expect it to end his political career. After all, it seldom ends anyone else’s.

LIsten class clowns......... No one truly gives a shit if these idiots have affairs. What people HATE is when you scream and holler and preach family values over and over and enact laws the restrict sexuality etc etc.......and then go out and DO exactly what they are trying to NOT let YOU do! !! THATS the issue. No one gives a SHIT that Cruz may or may not have had an affair. But he is as close to a preacher as you can get..... Stop PREACHING to us and then get caught doing the same thing and NOT get punished for it. Its the HYPOCRISY thats the problem. People lose faith when YOU....their leader OBVIOUSLY believe NOTHING you are saying.

Funny how David Vitter gets caught sleeping with a prostitute, and is not arrested and charged with a crime. His career should have been over. This shows how republicans are dishonest hypocritical liars. Republicans have no problem criminalizing a harmless weed, marijuana, locking up people for a joint, and ruining their life with a record, but when they break the law, nothing is done.

AND AS FOR THE "SO WHAT CONCLUSION IN THE STORIES TITLE, I'LL TELL YOU WHAT...THIS PUNK, SISSY IS A HYPOCRITE WHO HAS NO MORALS AND NOT FIT TO FILL THE SHOES OF THE HIGHEST OFFICE IN THE LAND, THAT'S WHAT! AND, IF YOU RESEARCH, YOU CAN FIND THE TIME WHEN TED AND HEIDI WERE HAVING TUMULTUOUS TIMES IN THEIR MARRIAGE WHEN THESE AFFAIRS SUPPOSEDLY TOOK PLACE AND QUITE POSSIBLY THE REASON BEHIND THE TROUBLED MARRIAGE!

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